During the Depression, it was so common for homeowners to share housing costs by renting rooms to strangers that a whole romantic milieu arose from the practice, with teenage (or, in Lolita's case, younger) girls falling for the remote, lonely, mysterious older men who shared a kitchen table with their family. Signs show that practice may be returning. It's green -- more people on your square footage means your ecological footprint lessens! It's friendly -- sharing your lives with others, even just at occasional mealtimes, is a way to break down the barriers that keep our communities stark and lonesome. Best of all, it's financially savvy -- spending to light and heat a 2,000 square-foot home when you really only need 1,200 or so is both expensive and hard to avoid, without the considerable and not easily reversible process of selling your home and buying a new one.

Rooms for rent has been in the news a lot lately, and I know a lot of families here in Portland who choose to offer one or two rooms to a singleton who's willing to help with the mortgage payment, the electric bill, and maybe the gardening or the bike repair. My littler sister has shared a room in a family friend's home for several years, and been through all the ups and downs.

I've discovered, in my experience with house share situations, that it's important to very clearly set expectations ahead of time; whether you will share the food expenses, who can use the kitchen, when; what the rules are about cleaning up after oneself in common areas; how comfortable you feel about leaving the bathroom door unlocked; what exactly is going to be charged for rent and utilities (a flat dollar amount? a percentage?); whether the phone/internet/leftovers are on- or off-limits. What about in your town? Have you rented a room, or are you thinking about it? Any tips to share?

Financial crisis and scams go together as well as peanut butter and jelly. These scams have been around longer than the Internet, which is hardly the first technology used by con artists. During the Great Depression the use of telegrams to pitch "investment" offers to wealthy Northerners exploded.

It seems the more things change, the more they stay the same. Microsoft reports that email scams are on the rise as unscrupulous individuals try to capitalize on these uncertain times. Tim Cranton, an Internet Safety Expert at Microsoft, recently told Reuters that email scams are not only more sophisticated but they are also taking advantage of the public's fears surrounding bank closings and mortgage issues.

On top of these new scams which related to current events, there are also plenty of email scams which prey upon our desire to get rich quick. These scams often require users to pay a fee in order to claim the winnings of a foreign lottery. In case you didn't see where this is going; the winnings never arrive.

The common worry is that consumers, desperate for money to support themselves, will set aside good judgment and send what little money they do have to these scammers. Most of us don't think we would ever fall for an email scam but a recent survey from Microsoft found that 25% of competent computer users are worried that they will get taken by one of these well-crafted cons!

Keep this in mind as you gather for Thanksgiving in the coming weeks; make sure you tell your relatives to watch out for emails that seem too good to be true or purport to save them money on their mortgage. In fact you can click the "Email this" link below to send this article directly to your friends and family. Keep your money safe and don't respond to email solicitations that you have even the smallest doubt about. You can learn more about email scams and how to protect yourself at Microsoft's Security at Home section.

There are some things that it really pays to spend extra money on; houses, beds, and bicycles. But there are some things that we buy that are simply money drains. Here are five purchases where it pays to be cheap.

1. Car. A depreciating asset, you lose money the minute you drive it off the lot. And then they continue to depreciate. I buy cheap, used cars with about 30,000 miles on them. I try to pay no more than $12,000 or so and I still think that is too much. My next car will be a hybrid of some sort with gas mileage 50 MPG or more. If I need a van for a trip, I will rent it.


2. Higher education. Unless you are going to Harvard or one of the big name schools, it really doesn't matter. Most of us can get a great education at our local state schools for a whole lot less money. Especially for a general liberal arts degree, it doesn't make sense to be $100,000 or more in debt to get that bachelors. Save your money for the masters or professional school.


3. Household products. Save a fortune every year by buying all household products in bulk. Cleaning supplies, detergents, bathroom products, paper goods and kitchen staples can be bought cheaply at one of the large stores. Stock up for 1-3 months at a time to save money and gas.


4. Children's clothes. Kids grow so fast, especially when they are little. Take hand me downs, shop thrift shops and buy at cheaper stores like Target and Kohls. You will find high quality at reasonable prices. As they get older and want nicer clothes, have them earn a part of the cost so they appreciate the value.


5. Hotel rooms. I travel all over the country for speaking engagements and all the hotel rooms look the same. Unless it is a five-star hotel at over $500 per night, I rarely notice a difference between expensive and cheap rooms. When traveling on your own dime, look for the cheap rooms and spend the extra money on a nice dinner out.

Barbara Bartlein is the People Pro. Join her for her new webinar on relationships. For info see: Webinar

It's no surprise that consumers have been making cutbacks this past year in many area. I've written about how my wife and I were skipping out on tickets, and now it looks like others are doing the same. Even though Major League Baseball brought in record breaking attendance this past year, professional sports overall are suffering due to the current economic crisis.

With rising prices and shrinking disposable incomes it's no wonder that the NFL is expecting lower revenue this year. The commissioner even took the same stance as corporate America, toting the importance of cost cutting to league staff. The League already took action to change its labor contract in order to remain more viable in the future, and the price of an average NFL ticket rose almost 8% this year.

If like me you're a stay at home fan you may not think that these issues will affect you much. I mean you weren't willing to pay $67 bucks that an NFL ticket cost last year so why should you care about a $5 increase this year? Unfortunately the answer is both simple and complex thanks to the draconian broadcasting rules employed by the NFL.

Don't you hate the first time you make a certain kind of purchase? We've all been in the situation when even the tidbits of advice you have heard over the years don't fully prepare you for the transaction.

The first time I felt this way about a deal was when I bought my first car. I made some goofy decisions and even though I did it half right I still felt like I could have gotten a better deal if I had been through the process before. As my wife and I are exploring home ownership I can't help but think that I am going to feel the same way about our home purchase.

Yesterday I found a great resource which really raised my hopes for taking out a mortgage and buying a home without remorse. The aptly titled article, "How to Get a Mortgage" on Mahalo.com breaks down the process of getting a mortgage into bite size morsels of knowledge so detailed and applicable it should be printed in pamphlets and handed out in front of every bank!

A new study reported in USA Today finds that "kids meals" at chain and fast food restaurants are too high in calories for a single meal. According to the analysis from the Center for Science in the Public Interest, some meals contain more than 1,000 calories, which is the typical daily calorie count per DAY for elementary school children. Considering that the average child, under 18, eats 167 restaurant meals in a year, that is a lot of calories.

This does not surprise me. All you have to do is look around. When I was a kid, we were all skinny. It was unusual to see a heavy-set kid in the class. Now I go to my daughter's swim class and the majority of the kids are overweight. Granted, kids may be sitting more, but I vote that the eating habits are more of the problem.

The USA Today reports that, in this era of unprecedented gas prices, an increasing number of home buyers are placing more emphasis on commuting costs in the search for the perfect property.

Homes near train stations, buses, and lots of jobs are back in vogue, and suburban McMansions are out like a fat kid in a game of dodge ball. Call it suburban contraction following decades of suburban sprawl.

A survey of 900 Coldwell Banker real estate agents found that 78% are making their clients more interested in city living. Some workers are planning to save more than $100 per month on gas costs by moving closer to the city.

In a way this increased focus on gas prices in the search for homes makes sense, but I'm not sure that it's really that rational. If you save $100 on gas, that's really only a savings of $50 compared to when the cost of gas was $2. A $100 savings sounds good, but living closer to the work has always reduced transportation costs, so it's important to realize that the savings may be more marginal than you think.

If you want to live in the suburbs, is it really worth sacrificing that lifestyle to avoid spending $50 a month more than you would have if you'd made the same decision a year ago? I somehow doubt it, for most people anyway. There are a lot of ways to add $50 a month that don't involve living somewhere you'd rather not. And remember: if moving into the cities becomes more popular in the face of rising gas prices, cities will get even more crowded, and you'll have to deal with everything that goes along with that.

My suggestion: before you put too much emphasis on transportation costs in your home buying decision, do the math: figure out your cost and how much you'll save on gas at price of $1 a gallon, $2, $3, $4, $5 and maybe $6. Then ask yourself it it's really rational to move to the city -- you might find that you're being emotionally swayed by the media barrage of new about soaring gas prices.

The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, run by the University of California provides a great resource for finding ways to reduce your energy consumption through its Home Energy Saver website.

The energy calculator takes climate data as well as local information and combines it with your current residence to find projects you can do to increase your energy efficiency. While the questions are geared toward someone living in a house, my results provided useful tips for apartment living,

I think my favorite part about this energy savings project is that it lets you choose the number of years between installation and the time the upgrade pays for itself. For example when I ran the survey I choose items which would pay for themselves in the first year, since i hope to be moving into a home by that time. I ended up with three actions to take on the actual building which I will pass on for now and two interior activities to reduce energy consumption all of which should pay for themselves in year one. If I purchased a programmable thermostat and finished my conversion to CFL lighting as the survey recommends I would save $120 in energy costs in just one year.

This is a really easy way to get a snapshot of your home energy uses and look for ways to lower your monthly bills. I can't emphasize how great it is to choose actions and upgrades based on the time it takes to pay for itself in savings. Finally the use of local information and the ability to enter my own utility prices pushes this tool over the top. The options I went with are just the tip of the iceberg, homeowners looking for items that pay for themselves over longer periods of time will find even more ideas. I am definitely bookmarking this so that I can run it on any home I am ready to purchase, in case I want to ask for any upgrades before I purchase.

Dwell reports that the American Institute of Architects has given BSB Designs a 2008 Small Projects Award for its Abod housing unit -- a $1500 solution to South Africa's housing shortage. According to Dwell: "Each home packs flat and can be assembled by four people with a screwdriver and awl (both tools are shipped with the structure). Buyers can add multiple features on to the original 10x12 foot structure, including a kitchen, bathroom, window-walls, and closets. The lightweight steel framework and corrugated walls can be easily disassembled and transported."

The company manufactured the prototype in the United States but has plans to move manufacturing to South Africa soon.

Given the huge homeless problem facing the United States, these could also come in handy here. They're lightweight, easy to assemble, and easy to dissemble and move. At $1500 a pop, the cost is minimal and definitely worth a try.

Of course they're also perfect for a cranky mother in law. Set one up in the backyard and add a barbecue and hose for fully-independent living.

Years ago, I bought one of those bookcases in a box. You know, you go to a discount big box store like Wal-Mart and buy these boxes filled with thin pieces of wood, and if you follow the directions correctly and have a few hours (or minutes, I guess, if you know what you're doing), you can put together a functional piece of furniture.

In my bookcase's case, when I was finished, I had furniture that wouldn't be allowed to enter even a rummage sale. One shelf was uneven, so that if you put books on it, they slid off; another shelf was so wobbly, I couldn't fill the entire thing with books, lest the weight bring it all down; and the back of the bookcase was crooked when I nailed it in, and so you can imagine how that looked.

But I had spent the money, knew I could never return it and get my cash back, and so I kept it in my one-room apartment until I moved across the country. I couldn't possibly take it with me, and since nobody would let me give it to them, I had to throw it away. And this is why I think people should be licensed to use a hammer and nail.

What is it about the thought of shopping at a dollar store that makes some people cringe? Quality has always been linked to a price tag. Sayings like "you only get what you pay for" are firmly embedded in our collective conscience. But it ain't necessarily so and people are slowly discovering that they don't always have to spend a lot to get a lot.

The beauty of shopping at a well-stocked, well-organized dollar store is finding small items of comparative quality with department stores for a lot less. While the basics like stationery and hardware items remain comparatively fixed for selection, if you like treasure hunting, new surprises are stocked in almost every aisle on a regular basis. Recently, we found some beautiful 3 1/2" tall tulip-shaped candles in pretty pastel colors for a buck each. You can find vases, fabric flowers that rival craft store finds and a multitude of quality scrapbook materials and tools, to name just some of the deals. So you gotta ask: why pay more than a buck? George Washington may be hobbling around on crutches right now but that's all the more reason to help him go the extra mile by taking him for a turn around a good dollar store.

For ideas on using dollar store finds in your home decor, check out http://www.dollarstorestyle.com.

Do you still subscribe to your local newspaper? If you do, you likely have a stack of papers somewhere in the house or garage waiting to be recycled. Apartment Therapy has come up with 20 ways to recycle or reuse newspaper around your house. It turns out leftover newsprint is suited for a myriad of uses but it is especially useful for soaking up odors in many places.

If you have a smelly container, fridge or shoe stuffing some newspaper in it is likely to pull the odor and moisture out. This method of odor fighting is no doubt much cheaper than air sprays and baking soda. Other uses include keeping weeds out of your garden and as an additive to your compost pile. The uses for newspaper around your house or community abound. You can even use the newspaper to prevent icing on your car windows during the winter.

We don't get the paper at home anymore, since the idea of on time delivery eluded the local delivery boy. At work we get 3-4 papers daily which get recycled by an employee but I don't think any of the papers enjoy any of the varied recycling activities mentioned by Apartment Therapy. I enjoy using newspaper and Windex to clean my car windows as it does a great job of preventing streaking, but that is my extent of paper reuse.

Do you still get a hard copy paper? If so, what do you re-use your newspaper for?

About seven years ago, shortly after my wife and I moved into our house, it started raining, and the roof began leaking. We hadn't been in the house a year, and so naturally we wondered if the previous owners of our home knew anything about this. But I hardly had time to dwell on the dampness of our new dwelling. About two months after filing a claim to have some roofers make some repairs, a lightning strike took out our sump pump in the basement in the middle of the night, and when I came downstairs in the morning, I was stepping onto a wet, mushy carpet underneath about two inches of water.

Before the water even receded, we filed another claim, foolishly thinking that that's what a home owner should do. What can I say? We were young and stupid. Almost needless to say, we were told that our policy wouldn't replace the soon-to-be-molding carpet and received a check for a few hundred dollars to replace my damaged fax machine and other random items in my home office. Then, as anyone experienced in this sort of thing can predict -- our insurance dropped us. Our crime? Filing too many claims. Two in about six months, in fact. I still sometimes lie awake at night, feverish and guilt-ridden for having the temerity to use my home owner's insurance.

I know you're probably skeptical about this. Decorating a home at a dollar store? What's next? Wedding gifts at the Salvation Army?

But Marlene Alexander who runs DollarStoreStyle.com shows readers how to do just that -- with candles, dinnerware, fake flowers, soap dishes, etc. all purchased for $1.

I've also become a big fan of dollar store decor: after buying a Pearlessence SpaMist, I headed over to DollarTree and found very good-quality liquid potpourri in tons of scents -- 33.6 fluid ounces for $1, 1/3rd of what it would set you back at Jo-Ann Stores (when it is in stock).

If you're Marlene Alexander and you're interested in writing about dollar stores for WalletPOP, leave a comment and I'll be in touch!

In slow real estate markets, sellers can get a little creative when trying to sell their homes. Curb appeal, white carpet, new bathrooms ... you name it. Anything to get the property moving. Sometimes sellers will throw in some financial considerations by either reducing the sales price or crediting the buyer some money for closing costs. Or both.

If you're in a selling situation and have thought about paying for buyer's closing costs then there is a key question you must answer: "How much are you willing to contribute to the buyers settlement fees?" But before you answer, you need to know that the buyer's lender places restrictions on the type and amount of seller contributions. The first lender rule places seller contribution limits on how much the buyer has for a down payment. If the buyer has a down payment equal to 0-5% down, a lender will typically limit a seller contribution to no more than 3% of the sales price. Anything extra won't be allowed. And no, you can't give the buyer cash at closing, that's illegal. You can only pay for the buyers closing costs.